cannabisnews.com: Two States Vote On Marijuana 





Two States Vote On Marijuana 
Posted by FoM on September 28, 2000 at 13:19:17 PT
By Brendan Riley, Associated Press Writer 
Source: AP U.S. 
Marijuana is on the ballot across the West this fall, from proposals to allow its medicinal use in Colorado and Nevada to measures that would let it flourish in Alaska and the pot-growing "Emerald Triangle" of Northern California. Recent polls suggest the proposals are likely to pass in both Nevada and Colorado. In the past four years, similar medical-marijuana measures have become law in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Maine and Hawaii. 
Nevada's Question 9 would let doctors prescribe marijuana for severe illness and pain. Nevada voters approved medical marijuana by 59 percent in 1998, but adding it to the state's constitution requires another "yes" vote on Nov. 7. Nevada has strict anti-marijuana laws, yet a recent Las Vegas Review-Journal poll found 63 percent of likely voters backed the measure, with 28 percent opposed. And the state's policy-making drug commission, which fought the measure two years ago, has been silent this year. "Nevada voters get it. They know this is a public health issue completely unrelated to the war on drugs," said Dan Geary, a leader of the movement in favor of the measure. Colorado's Amendment 20 would permit marijuana use for those with serious or chronic illnesses, under a doctor's care. A recent Denver Rocky Mountain News poll found 71 percent of registered voters favored the measure, and 23 percent opposed it. It is the "the wrong message to send to our children," said Dr. Joel Karlin, a past president of the Colorado Medical Society and spokesman of Coloradans Against Legalizing Marijuana. Advocates of medical marijuana use say it helps people suffering from ailments like glaucoma, nausea from chemotherapy and appetite loss from AIDS. Opponents, including the American Medical Association, say marijuana can contribute to cancer and affect eye disorders and multiple sclerosis. Out-of-state money is pushing both measures. Their chief backer is Americans for Medical Rights, bankrolled by three tycoons: New York financier and philanthropist George Soros, Cleveland insurance mogul Peter Lewis and University of Phoenix founder John Sperling. Since 1998, those supporting the Colorado and Nevada measures have reported raising at least $1.4 million. Opponents said have they raised less than $40,000. Not surprisingly, there is no organized opposition in California's Mendocino County, where passage of Measure G would allow adults to grow 25 pot plants apiece as long as they are not for sale or transport. The Northern California area produces an illegal marijuana crop with an annual street value of around $1 billion. Last year, more than 300 pot plantations were raided in Mendocino County and $204 million worth of weed was seized. Authorities believe that for every plant they find, there are 10 more out there. Under the measure, the sheriff and the district attorney would make marijuana crime their lowest priority and county officials would seek an end to state and federal anti-marijuana laws. The district attorney and sheriff have refused to support the measure. Alaska's ballot measure may face harder going. Besides making marijuana legal, the initiative would give amnesty for marijuana crimes and offer restitution for time in prison. Anchorage Police Chief Duane Udland warned that the measure would create "a drug culture, with all the young people sitting around stoned all the time." Until 10 years ago, Alaska allowed people to have small amounts of marijuana, based on a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling. Voters banned pot completely in 1990 but later approved its medicinal use. On the Net: http://www.medmjscience.org http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDAHome2.html Carson City, Nev. (AP) Updated 1:00 PM ET September 28, 2000 Copyright © 2000 At Home Corporation. Related Articles & Web Sites:Coloradans For Medical Rights http://www.medicalmarijuana.com/Drug Policy Forum of Coloradohttp://www.drugsense.org/dpfco/Colorado To Vote on Marijuana Uses http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7018.shtmlMedical Marijuana Foes Irked http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6961.shtmlHigh Court Ruling Concerns Nevada Marijuana Backerhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6947.shtmlMarijuana Issue To Remain on Nevada Ballot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6891.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by schmeff on September 29, 2000 at 09:04:24 PT:
Just think about the message they send to adults..
Which is:In the United States of Amerika, in order to send the "korrect" message to children, we must write our laws in a way that treats adults like children, telling them what they can or can't do with their own bodies, because.....like their parents, our poor idiotic children are too brain-dead to realize that it really is possible (necessary, even) to have different standards of responsibility for children and adults.It's really a neat kind of Catch-22 if you think about it. The laws that we create to infantilize and control adults can only be appreciated if one has the perspicacity and logical mind of a four year old.
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Comment #3 posted by Kanabys on September 29, 2000 at 05:49:59 PT
Frank ya beat me to it.
This is what I get for getting up late. I was about to make the same comment as Mr. World and there it was. Well, I'm gonna anyway.>> It is the "the wrong message to send to our children," said Dr. Joel Karlin, a past president of the Colorado Medical Society and spokesman of Coloradans Against Legalizing Marijuana. So the right message is "watch your loved ones suffer in agony while a natural medicine is right there to alleviate it but you can't use it because we, the omnipotent pols, won't let you. So suffer you wicked AIDS and Cancer ridden people because we don't want the CHIIILLLLDDDRRRUUUNNN to get 'the wrong frelling message'" DAMN I'm P.O.ed!!!!!!!!
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Comment #2 posted by Dr. Ganj on September 28, 2000 at 23:43:28 PT
Here's The Right Message: Grow Baby, Grow! 
Teaching our children to water marijuana plants is the right message. Marijuana is a truly beautiful plant, and nothing I read, or hear will ever change me into believing otherwise. Jail hasn't stopped me, and I'll keep fighting against the evil brutes that are trying to keep it illegal until my last breath of marijuana smoke has left my lips. I just want to live long enough to see marijuana legal. After that, I can finally rest my tired body. All the pain and suffering this drug war has caused is almost too much to take. How can we, as civilized humans, have gone so wrong? It's soul breaking sad, that's what.However, there is hope that we can change the current suffering, into smiles of freedom tomorrow, as we head to the voting booths this November. Let's change these rotten laws. Get out and vote! Exchange your Ph pen for a real one, and mark the box that says;"Yes to legal marijuana"!Dr. Ganj
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/ltgov/elections/petitions/99hemp.htm
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Comment #1 posted by Frank S. World on September 28, 2000 at 14:26:34 PT
What?
"It is the "the wrong message to send to our children," said Dr. Joel Karlin, a past president of the Colorado Medical Society and spokesman of Coloradans Against Legalizing Marijuana."The right message of course, must be that sick people should suffer because lies take precedence over the truth and justice.Dr. Karlin, heal thyself! Children know the difference between use and abuse, and what is medicine and what is not. They are a lot smarter than Dr. Karlin and those of his ilk.
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